Blansfield, Karen Charmaine, Cheap Rooms and Restless Hearts: A Study of Formula in the Urban Tales of William Sydney Porter, Popular Press, 1988.

This book explores the characters and plot patterns found in O. Henry's urban tales and offers a new evaluation of O. Henry's literary merit and contributions.

Bloom, Harold, ed., O. Henry, Bloom's Major Short Story Writers series, Chelsea House, 1999.

Bloom, a noted literary critic, collects a variety of criticism on O. Henry from others. In addition, the book features a biography of O. Henry, themes and characters from selected O. Henry stories, a bibliography of O. Henry's writings, and notes and an introduction by Bloom.

Burrows, Edwin G., and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Oxford University Press, 2000.

This early history of New York is the most comprehensive study thus far. Burrows and Wallace combine both original and recent scholarship...